The present invention relates generally to a software architecture for simulation of physical entities. In particular, the invention relates to an object-oriented container based framework architecture for simulating the function and position of physical entities in a time domain on a distributed computer network.
A software design framework is an architectural pattern that provides an extensible template for applications within a domain. In the context of object oriented computer software, a framework provides a set of abstract and concrete classes that can be extended via sub-classing or used directly to solve a particular problem within a particular domain. A set of objects from the classes then works together to carry out responsibilities within a particular problem domain or family of applications.
One example of the object oriented framework architecture is a concept of a container. A container provides an execution environment for components that cannot execute alone.
Containers interact with contained components through pre-defined interfaces. A class implements an interface by either implementing the interface's methods directly, or inheriting implementations from superclasses.
An object oriented framework architecture is described in Publication 2002/0059467 entitled “Object Oriented Framework Architecture for Sensing and/or Control Environments”. Another object oriented sensing and control framework is described in Publication 2002/0184348 entitled “Object Oriented Framework Architecture for Sensing and/or Control Environments”.
The prior art does not disclose or suggest an object oriented framework or container based architecture for the description and manipulation of models of physical entities in the time domain as disclosed. Moreover, the prior art does not disclose the use of an object oriented framework or container based architecture to define a flight simulator over a distributed computer network as disclosed.